This application relates to methods, apparatus, and compositions for the generation of electricity. In particular, it relates to method, apparatus, and compositions which employ the mechanisms of nuclear magnetic spin generation (NMSG) and/or remnant polarization electric generation (RPEG) to produce electricity.
Readily available and portable supplies of electric power are critical to almost every aspect of modern life. Electric power drives a wide assortment of devices that have become key to functioning in modern society. These devices range from electric lights and appliances in the home, to highly technical devices used in fields such as medicine, manufacturing, military, and scientific research.
In many applications it is critical to have portable sources of electricity. These needs are conventionally met by the use of batteries of various types. Batteries are, of course, used to start automobiles and trucks, and are also used to power electrical devices that must be moved. These devices range from flashlights to cellular telephones and laptop computers.
Electrical power has both large and very small applications. On the large scale, electricity is generated by large scale electric generators and distributed over distribution lines to ultimate users. At the small scale, small electrical charges are involved in operating electronic circuits and memory devices that are ubiquitous in modern life. Each of these devices and systems requires a reliable and controlled source of electricity.
One of the major technical problems involving portable electronic devices is the providing of reliable and consistent sources of portable power. As mentioned above, this is generally accomplished by the use of batteries. However, batteries are problematic. Battery power has always been a major issue in the use of devices such as laptop computers. Battery life is a concern, as is the reliability of battery power.
A further problem encountered with battery power is providing a sufficient supply of batteries to remote locations. This can be appreciated by consideration of, as an example, military operations. Military operations require a huge array of electronic devices. These devices range from laptop computers and related devices to cellular telephones and other communications systems. They also, of course, involve military equipment and weaponry which employ electronic components. Operations of this nature rely heavily on such portable electronic devices. In order to power such devices, batteries must be provided and constantly replaced in order to make sure that all equipment is constantly functional. It will be appreciated that it is a major logistic problem to simply provide adequate battery power to a major military operation. Large quantities of batteries must constantly be supplied and removed from sources of supply to the field.
The same is true other types of operations in the fields of business, medicine, and research. As mentioned above, all of these fields rely heavily on portable electronic devices. All of those devices require a portable source of electric power. Providing that power has been a major challenge.
Thus, the present invention relates to new methods, apparatus, and compositions for generating electric power and, if desired, providing that power in a portable format. This is accomplished through the use of nuclear magnetic spin (NMSG) and remnant polarization electric generation (RPEG), which will be discussed briefly below.
It is known that any nucleus with a non-zero spin quantum number, placed in a magnetic field can absorb and emit energy through electromagnetic radiation. This radiation can be detected by using the principles of nuclear magnetic resonance. Use with a hydrogen nucleus, or proton, is the earliest and most common NMR method; principally used to investigate organic compounds. A nucleus of hydrogen, with a spin of I=½, spins around its axis and generates a magnetic field. When this nucleus is placed in an external magnetic field, the hydrogen nucleus tends to align with the external magnetic field. The alignment can be parallel or anti-parallel with the external field, because the spinning can be thought of as the spinning of a toy top that spins slightly off axis and is known by the term precession. The frequency of precession is termed the Larmor frequency (ω). The Larmor frequency is dependent on the strength of the external magnetic field and the magnetic properties of the material. In this case, a hydrogen nucleus has a Larmor frequency of 42.6 MHz per external magnetic field strength of 1 tesla. A radio frequency tuned to the magnetic field strength can cause the nucleus to flip from an anti-parallel state to a parallel state, thus releasing a small amount of energy that can be detected. The radio frequency varies with the environment surrounding the hydrogen nucleus, thereby giving information about the chemical surroundings of the hydrogen nucleus.
As described above, a hydrogen nucleus has a spin I=½. Other elements have larger spins than ½. Further, atomic nuclei are known to possess a positive charge, Ze, where Z is the atomic number, which distinguishes one element from another, and where e is the magnitude of charge of an electron or proton. Elements also have mass, M, which can vary from one isotope to another. Nuclei may also possess spin, a magnetic dipole moment, μ, an electrical quadruple moment and occasionally higher moments. Intrinsic nuclear angular momenta are quantized and may be expressed as  where I is an integer or half-integer and is called the spin quantum number. For example, a nucleus for which I=3/2 is said to have a spin of 3/2. I may be different for different isotopes. There is a restriction on the spin that nuclei can possess. For nuclei with an even mass number, I must be an integer or zero whereas nuclei with an odd mass number, I must be a half-integer. Table 1, below, shows some common nuclear properties including spins for selected isotopes.
TABLE 1Spin Properties of Selected IsotopesSome Nuclear PropertiesMagneticResonanceMoment inFrequency inQuadrupoleNuclearKHz perMoment, Q.NucleusSpin IMagnetonsOersted FieldUnits 10−24 cm2H1/22.794.26—D10.860.650.00284He0———12C0———13C1/20.701.07—14N10.400.310.0216O0———19F1/22.634.01—23Na3/22.221.130.131P1/21.131.72—32S0———35Cl3/20.820.42−0.0837Cl3/20.680.35−0.0639K3/20.390.200.0779Br3/22.101.070.3381Br3/22.261.150.28127I5/22.790.85−0.75
If a nucleus has a spin of zero, then all of its moments are zero and no nuclear orientational effects arise. If the spin is ½ or greater then the nucleus possesses a magnetic moment, μ. In this property, the nucleus resembles any rotating charge. The nucleus may be thought of as having a little magnet whose direction is fixed parallel to the spin axis. A negative moment means that the magnetic moment vector is opposite to the spin vector. The unit of measure to express nuclear moments is the nuclear magneton, which is /2πMc. In this case, M is the mass of a proton. One nuclear magneton=5×10−24 erg/Gauss. A nucleus with a spin of 1 or greater possesses an electrical quadrupole moment. The angular momentum vector of a nucleus can have 2 I+1 directions in space. These directions in space are often characterized by a resolved angular momentum along a specified direction. The resolved momentum is given by MI and have the values of I, I−1, I−2, . . . −I+1, −I. For the common case of I=½ MI=+½ or −½, transitions are allowed but the energy difference is so small that it is effectively not observed. But, in a magnetic field, there is an additional energy that must be considered. This is analogous to the energy required to move a compass needle away from the direction it is pointing. The energy is −μH cos θ, where H is the magnitude of the magnetic field. The energy of the magnetic field set the upper limit of electrical energy that can be extracted from the generator proposed in this disclosure.
There is a frequency associated with the transition between MI=−½ to +½. That frequency is given by hv=−(μ/I)H(−½−½). This frequency is related to the energy required to “flip” the spin from (+) to (−) or in more correct terms, the orientational potential energy when the dipole is parallel to the field is the (−) term and it is the (+) when the dipole is antiparallel to the field. The energy is always 2× the magnitude of the dipole spin. An example of this calculation is given below. This equation may be written in terms of the magnetogyric ratio, γ, where γ=μ/ or ω=2πμ=γH radians/second. Table 1 has a column showing the Resonance Frequency (Larmor Frequency) for transitions in a magnetic field of 1 Oersted.
Ferroelectricity is an electrical phenomenon whereby certain materials may exhibit a spontaneous dipole moment the direction of which can be switched between equivalent states by the application of an external electric field. The internal electric dipoles of a ferroelectric material are physically tied to the material lattice so anything that changes the physical lattice will change the strength of the dipoles and cause a charge to flow into or out of the ferroelectric material (see discussion below) even without the presence of an external voltage across the capacitor. Two stimuli that will change the lattice dimensions of a material are force and temperature. The generation of a charge in response to the application of a force to a ferroelectric material is called piezoelectricity. The generation of current in response to a change in temperature is called pyroelectricity.
The term ferroelectricity is used in analogy to ferromagnetism, in which a material exhibits a permanent magnetic moment. Ferromagnetism was already known when ferroelectricity was discovered. Thus, the prefix “ferro”, meaning iron, was used to describe the property despite that fact that most ferroelectric materials do not have iron in their lattice. For some ferroelectrics iron acts as a contaminant limiting ferroelectric properties.
Placing a ferroelectric material between two conductive plates creates a ferroelectric capacitor. Ferroelectric capacitors exhibit nonlinear properties and usually have very high dielectric constants. The fact that the internal electric dipoles can be forced to change their direction by the application of an external voltage gives rise to hysteresis, in the “polarization vs. voltage” property of the capacitor. See FIG. 7 for an example of the general shape of the hysteresis loop. In this case, polarization is defined as the total charge stored on the plates of the capacitor divided by the area of the plates. Independent of crystal structure, domains similar to those seen in ferromagnetic domains are also seen in ferroelectrics. Within a given domain there is a vector pointing in the direction of the dipoles. In a given bulk material containing many single crystal grains there may be a ferroelectric domain and a domain wall separating orientational vectors from each other. In poled ferroelectrics most of the domain vectors line up in the direction imposed by the external electric field.
One application for this hysteresis and ferroelectric capacitance is for memory in computer applications. Other applications use the combined properties of memory, piezoelectricity, and pyroelectricity to make some of the most useful technological devices in modern society. Ferroelectric capacitors are used in medical ultrasound machines (the capacitors generate and then listen for the ultrasound “ping” used to image the internal organs of a body), high quality infrared cameras (the infrared image is projected onto a two dimensional array of ferroelectric capacitors capable of detecting temperature differences as small as millionths of a degree Celsius), fire sensors, sonar, vibration sensors, and even fuel injectors on diesel engines. Engineers use the high dielectric constants of ferroelectric materials to concentrate large values of electrical charge into small volumes, resulting in the very small surface mount capacitors. Without the space savings allowed by surface mount capacitors, compact laptop computers and cell phones simply would not be possible. The electro-optic modulators that form the backbone of the Internet are made with ferroelectric materials.
It is apparent that a need exists in the art for the production of electricity more effectively and efficiently. There is a particular need for the production of electricity in a manner that can power portable electrical devices. The methods, apparatus, and compositions disclosed below provide for the production of electricity and the production of such electricity in a portable fashion, if desired.